Spain: EU countries try to close the agreement on catches in the Atlantic in 2022

Spain

Published Dec 14, 2021

Tridge summary

The first session of the Council of Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries "will review the progress achieved so far in the negotiations," European sources told Efe. Slovenian Fisheries Minister Joze Podgorsek, whose country is chairing the EU Council this semester, said on his arrival at the meeting today that fisheries negotiations "are still in progress." On the other hand, he pointed out in relation to the negotiations with the United Kingdom for the fishing of shared resources, “to date an agreement has not been reached, so work is being done on setting provisional quotas for next year's fishing opportunities. ”. On Sunday, the first day of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Spanish Minister, Luis Planas, declared that the priorities of Spain in the Council will be the quotas of southern hake and the defense of the interests of Spanish vessels in the Mediterranean. The Spanish delegation held a meeting on Sunday with the French to seek alliances and also a trilateral meeting, with the European Commission and the current European presidency, diplomatic sources indicated.

Original content

For Spain, “the first fishing fleet in the EU, with approximately 9,000 vessels”, the negotiation that will take place in the next few days is “key” because it affects “practically the entire fleet, except for the one located in third-party fishing grounds and other areas. , oceans and seas of the world ”, said Planas. Regarding the distribution of Total Allowable Catches (TAC) and quotas in the Atlantic for 2022, the minister indicated this Sunday that "the priority interest is southern hake", given that Spain has 1,200 vessels that are dedicated to catching them, which is "very important from the economic and consumer point of view at the national level." For these stocks in Iberian waters, Brussels has proposed a cut in catches of 18.5%, to 6,787 tonnes. Spain will also fight for the quotas of sole and Norway lobster. In the case of horse mackerel, the Spanish delegation today showed its rejection of the proposed 16% cut and asked that scientific studies that indicate the ...

Source: PEefeagro